2026 Pure Poker Tour Series #3 – Event #14: $1,100 NLH Main Event

Jarret Gray is having a good few days here at PPT #3. He was runner-up in the $560 NLH a couple of days ago, then final-tabled the NLH Bounty last night.

Tonight, he was the player to finally burst the seemingly never-ending bubble. Mike Malm opened to 30k from the cutoff before Brayden Brown shoved the small blind for less than 100k.

Gray asked for a count, then called, forcing Malm out of the pot. “I would have called if you didn’t,” he said to Gray.

Gray was on pocket eights, racing against the A♠K♠ for Brown. Gray took a huge lead on the flop, then held when the board ran out J♠8♣6♥9♦10♦.

Stay tuned for the 1a chips in about an hour.

The short stacks keep surviving late on Day 1a. After Pam MacNaughton opened to 40k, Christopher Lahey shoved the short stack.

MacNaughton called with jack-ten of clubs, but Lahey was on king-queen off. Lahey hit the flop with his king. That ultimately held on 4♦9♦K♣5♣9♥, despite MacNaughton turning the club draw.

Sebastian Crema looked to be on a sun-run earlier in the day. After running over the field in the PLO Main Event, he had the second-biggest stack at the break after Level 15.

He’s down to fumes now, however. In the final hand of Level 17, he raised to 16k from the button, and Trevor Patrick called from the big blind. Patrick fired 20k on the 3♠3♣2♠ flop, and Crema called to the 4♠ turn.

Patrick fired again, this time for 45k, and Crema found a call. The 4♦ river brought a 55k bet from Patrick, and Crema agonized over the hand for a couple of minutes before putting in the call. Patrick showed pocket nines, and Crema mucked, saying he had an overpair as well.

They are just two hands away from Level 18 now, which means they’ve been playing hand-for-hand for about a level and a half already.

Clayton Switzer was the short stack just a few hands ago, but after a double-up and a recent hand, he’s playing more than 200k now.

I missed the early action, but after both players checked the turn on 10♦K♣4♠Q♣6♠, small blind Carson Barton fired 9k into the small pot. Switzer took his time before putting out the call, but his ace-queen of hearts had the queen-jack of spades for Barton capped for the win.

Johnny Dalphond raised the cutoff to 24k, and big blind Clayton Switzer hit the tank before shoving his short stack. Dalphond snapped it off with Q♥J♥ and was racing against pocket nines.

K♦9♠6♦7♣3♣ on the board left the nines ahead, and Switzer scored another double to survive again.

While I missed the preflop action, on the 7♥3♦5♠ flop, small blind Pam MacNaughton bet 40k. Stephen Dauphinais, who was in early position, tank-shoved his stack of 164k. MacNaughton didn’t take long to call, but she was in rough shape on ace-king against pocket aces for Dauphinais. The J♠3♥ runout didn’t change anything and Dauphinais scored the double.

The next hand will move the game in Level 17.

Carson Barton raised to 12k under the gun, and it folded to Deven Lane in the small blind, who called. Johnny Dalphond, in the big blind and deep into a massage, spent a few seconds playing with his chips before sliding out 75k. Both Barton and Lane mucked fairly quickly to the three-bet.

It was a hand that could have ended the night when Sebastian Crema woke up with pocket jacks, while Mike Malm, to his left, woke up with pocket queens. Both players slow played the big hand, in part because of the end-of-night bubble, and by the time the board was out, there were four clubs showing.

The river saw a bet from Crema and a raise from Malm, with Crema calling it down. Both players had the club in their pair, and Malm took down a pot that could have ended the night had it been between different players.

The next hand, Clayton Switzer shoved 55k and was called by Jeffery Harcourt. They raced it down between ace-queen for Switzer and deuces for Harcourt, and Switzer flopped a queen, then rivered another one for overkill.

There are still 19 players remaining.

Cam Stewart opened the cutoff with a dead button, making it 12k to go. Big stack Pam MacNaughton called from the big blind.

She check-called for 14k on the 4♦10♣6♠ flop, then led for 30k on the 8♠ turn. Stewart didn’t take long to release his hand.

The clock is paused with 2:04 remaining in Level 16, with the field down to 19 players. They’ll play hand-for-hand now until the next elimination brings out the bags.

Pam MacNaughton is leading the way, 5 eliminations away from the bags. She has more than 550k, but PLO Main Event winner Sebastian Crema is continuing his sun-run from earlier today with the second-place stack, also more than half a million. Below is a look at all remaining players, seats, and stacks.

There was just a huge hand on table 17. Sebastian Crema, fresh off his PLO Main Event win earlier today, raised it up preflop, and Eric Wasylenko called from the button, as did Ali Razzaq from the big blind.

The all checked the ten-seven-four flop with two hearts, and Razzaq fired a small bet on the jack turn. Crema raised before Wasy shoved. Razzaq over-shoved, sending Crema deep into the tank.

He finally put in the call with a heart draw on eight-six. Razzaq was on a flopped set of fours, while Wasy turned the straight with eight-nine. A heart on the river sent it all to Crema, as he out-stacked the other two.

That leaves the game with 24 players, just six eliminations away from the bags.

With about 25 minutes to play until the next break, the 1a field is now down to 28 players. That puts them ten eliminations away from the expected 18 bags to end the night. I’ll have another look at the chips in the upcoming break.

The 1a field is down to 32 players with about 30 minutes to play in Level 14. That puts them 14 off the 18 expected bags for tonight, and at the current pace, is looke like they’ll into Level 16 at least.

The field for 1a is confirmed at 143, with 18 bags at the end of the night. Right now, it looks like Blair Stevens is the player with the best chance to bag big.

He’s playing 313k and looks to be the only player with 300k or more. Adonios Pitaoulis is playing 285k, while Trevor Patrick looks to be on 276k.

Day 1a is down to 55 players, with just under 30 minutes to play in Level 11. There’s another break following Level 12, and I’ll have a look around for some big stacks at that break.

They are playing down to 18 bags later tonight.

Entries for Day 1 of the Main Event are now closed, and it was a solid turnout for the opening flight. The unofficial number is 143 entries, for prizes just shy of $135k.

If those numbers hold, it should mean 18 bags at the end of the night.

The dinner break for Day 1a has just begun, and entries will close when they return to the felt for Level 10 in just under 45 minutes. The field as they head to break is 138, for prizes just shy of $130k. I’d expect at least enough entries over dinner to crack 140, but it seems unlikely they’ll quite get to 150.

Level 9 has just begun, and the field is at 126 entries. That puts the prizes so far at $118,503, with about an hour and 20 minutes left to enter the game.

I’d expect to see another 10-20 entries before the desk shuts down at about 8:15 tonight, so this field could crack 140 entries, and might even flirt with 150.

The field is nearing 120 entries for Day 1a, with a bit more than 2 hours left in entries for the opening flight. About 10 minutes remain in Level 7, with two more levels of open-entry poker, plus the 45-minute dinner break, before entries close.

Players who don’t bag a stack today still have one more shot at a Day 2 bag in tomorrow’s Day 1b. Traditionally, 1b tends to be about 50% bigger than 1a, so the field tomorrow could easily approach or beat 200 entries. If they get 200 entries on 1b, it will almost certainly mean a prize pool of more than $300k for Sunday’s Day 2.

The prizes for Day 1a are now over $100k with 111 entries on the board. For a Day 1a flight, the numbers are looking pretty good for a final prizes pool between $200k and $400k before the entries end on 1b tomorrow.

The cutoff moved all in for 11,200, and Blair Stevens made the call from the button. Both players revealed their holdings.

Cutoff: 9♦8♦
Blair Stevens: A♦Q♠

The board ran out 7♥J♦2♥2♠A♥ to give Stevens the pot.

Blair Stevens: 79,800

Table 13 has it’s share of sharks in DJ Sharma and his “self proclaimed sister” Jo Teliani. Teliani currently leads the Alberta Poker Index as the top female. Meanwhile, Sharma won his second WSOPC Ring earlier this year. As well, he is hot off of a deep run in this years WSOP Main Event. He found himself as the second largest stack on multiple days eventually finishing in 78th place for $105,000 USD. Both will be looking to continue this streak heading into the Main Event today.

Action was caught after an all in and call occurred between Colten Yamagishi and under the gun. Both players revealed their holdings.

Under the Gun: A♦J♦
Colten Yamagishi: K♠3♠

The board ran out 8♦9♠Q♣K♦4♥ to send the pot to Yamagishi.

Colten Yamagishi: 58,300

Day 1a of the Main Event is nearing 100 entries already, with around 4 hours to go in the entry period. That puts the prizes at nearly $85k, and there’s a good chance there could be $100k or more in the prizes before entries close.

Jarret Gray is having a good few days here at PPT #3. He was runner-up in the $560 NLH a couple of days ago, then final-tabled the NLH Bounty last night.

Tonight, he was the player to finally burst the seemingly never-ending bubble. Mike Malm opened to 30k from the cutoff before Brayden Brown shoved the small blind for less than 100k.

Gray asked for a count, then called, forcing Malm out of the pot. “I would have called if you didn’t,” he said to Gray.

Gray was on pocket eights, racing against the A♠K♠ for Brown. Gray took a huge lead on the flop, then held when the board ran out J♠8♣6♥9♦10♦.

Stay tuned for the 1a chips in about an hour.

The short stacks keep surviving late on Day 1a. After Pam MacNaughton opened to 40k, Christopher Lahey shoved the short stack.

MacNaughton called with jack-ten of clubs, but Lahey was on king-queen off. Lahey hit the flop with his king. That ultimately held on 4♦9♦K♣5♣9♥, despite MacNaughton turning the club draw.

Sebastian Crema looked to be on a sun-run earlier in the day. After running over the field in the PLO Main Event, he had the second-biggest stack at the break after Level 15.

He’s down to fumes now, however. In the final hand of Level 17, he raised to 16k from the button, and Trevor Patrick called from the big blind. Patrick fired 20k on the 3♠3♣2♠ flop, and Crema called to the 4♠ turn.

Patrick fired again, this time for 45k, and Crema found a call. The 4♦ river brought a 55k bet from Patrick, and Crema agonized over the hand for a couple of minutes before putting in the call. Patrick showed pocket nines, and Crema mucked, saying he had an overpair as well.

They are just two hands away from Level 18 now, which means they’ve been playing hand-for-hand for about a level and a half already.

Clayton Switzer was the short stack just a few hands ago, but after a double-up and a recent hand, he’s playing more than 200k now.

I missed the early action, but after both players checked the turn on 10♦K♣4♠Q♣6♠, small blind Carson Barton fired 9k into the small pot. Switzer took his time before putting out the call, but his ace-queen of hearts had the queen-jack of spades for Barton capped for the win.

Johnny Dalphond raised the cutoff to 24k, and big blind Clayton Switzer hit the tank before shoving his short stack. Dalphond snapped it off with Q♥J♥ and was racing against pocket nines.

K♦9♠6♦7♣3♣ on the board left the nines ahead, and Switzer scored another double to survive again.

While I missed the preflop action, on the 7♥3♦5♠ flop, small blind Pam MacNaughton bet 40k. Stephen Dauphinais, who was in early position, tank-shoved his stack of 164k. MacNaughton didn’t take long to call, but she was in rough shape on ace-king against pocket aces for Dauphinais. The J♠3♥ runout didn’t change anything and Dauphinais scored the double.

The next hand will move the game in Level 17.

Carson Barton raised to 12k under the gun, and it folded to Deven Lane in the small blind, who called. Johnny Dalphond, in the big blind and deep into a massage, spent a few seconds playing with his chips before sliding out 75k. Both Barton and Lane mucked fairly quickly to the three-bet.

It was a hand that could have ended the night when Sebastian Crema woke up with pocket jacks, while Mike Malm, to his left, woke up with pocket queens. Both players slow played the big hand, in part because of the end-of-night bubble, and by the time the board was out, there were four clubs showing.

The river saw a bet from Crema and a raise from Malm, with Crema calling it down. Both players had the club in their pair, and Malm took down a pot that could have ended the night had it been between different players.

The next hand, Clayton Switzer shoved 55k and was called by Jeffery Harcourt. They raced it down between ace-queen for Switzer and deuces for Harcourt, and Switzer flopped a queen, then rivered another one for overkill.

There are still 19 players remaining.

Cam Stewart opened the cutoff with a dead button, making it 12k to go. Big stack Pam MacNaughton called from the big blind.

She check-called for 14k on the 4♦10♣6♠ flop, then led for 30k on the 8♠ turn. Stewart didn’t take long to release his hand.

The clock is paused with 2:04 remaining in Level 16, with the field down to 19 players. They’ll play hand-for-hand now until the next elimination brings out the bags.

Pam MacNaughton is leading the way, 5 eliminations away from the bags. She has more than 550k, but PLO Main Event winner Sebastian Crema is continuing his sun-run from earlier today with the second-place stack, also more than half a million. Below is a look at all remaining players, seats, and stacks.

There was just a huge hand on table 17. Sebastian Crema, fresh off his PLO Main Event win earlier today, raised it up preflop, and Eric Wasylenko called from the button, as did Ali Razzaq from the big blind.

The all checked the ten-seven-four flop with two hearts, and Razzaq fired a small bet on the jack turn. Crema raised before Wasy shoved. Razzaq over-shoved, sending Crema deep into the tank.

He finally put in the call with a heart draw on eight-six. Razzaq was on a flopped set of fours, while Wasy turned the straight with eight-nine. A heart on the river sent it all to Crema, as he out-stacked the other two.

That leaves the game with 24 players, just six eliminations away from the bags.

With about 25 minutes to play until the next break, the 1a field is now down to 28 players. That puts them ten eliminations away from the expected 18 bags to end the night. I’ll have another look at the chips in the upcoming break.

The 1a field is down to 32 players with about 30 minutes to play in Level 14. That puts them 14 off the 18 expected bags for tonight, and at the current pace, is looke like they’ll into Level 16 at least.

The field for 1a is confirmed at 143, with 18 bags at the end of the night. Right now, it looks like Blair Stevens is the player with the best chance to bag big.

He’s playing 313k and looks to be the only player with 300k or more. Adonios Pitaoulis is playing 285k, while Trevor Patrick looks to be on 276k.

Day 1a is down to 55 players, with just under 30 minutes to play in Level 11. There’s another break following Level 12, and I’ll have a look around for some big stacks at that break.

They are playing down to 18 bags later tonight.

Entries for Day 1 of the Main Event are now closed, and it was a solid turnout for the opening flight. The unofficial number is 143 entries, for prizes just shy of $135k.

If those numbers hold, it should mean 18 bags at the end of the night.

The dinner break for Day 1a has just begun, and entries will close when they return to the felt for Level 10 in just under 45 minutes. The field as they head to break is 138, for prizes just shy of $130k. I’d expect at least enough entries over dinner to crack 140, but it seems unlikely they’ll quite get to 150.

Level 9 has just begun, and the field is at 126 entries. That puts the prizes so far at $118,503, with about an hour and 20 minutes left to enter the game.

I’d expect to see another 10-20 entries before the desk shuts down at about 8:15 tonight, so this field could crack 140 entries, and might even flirt with 150.

The field is nearing 120 entries for Day 1a, with a bit more than 2 hours left in entries for the opening flight. About 10 minutes remain in Level 7, with two more levels of open-entry poker, plus the 45-minute dinner break, before entries close.

Players who don’t bag a stack today still have one more shot at a Day 2 bag in tomorrow’s Day 1b. Traditionally, 1b tends to be about 50% bigger than 1a, so the field tomorrow could easily approach or beat 200 entries. If they get 200 entries on 1b, it will almost certainly mean a prize pool of more than $300k for Sunday’s Day 2.

The prizes for Day 1a are now over $100k with 111 entries on the board. For a Day 1a flight, the numbers are looking pretty good for a final prizes pool between $200k and $400k before the entries end on 1b tomorrow.

The cutoff moved all in for 11,200, and Blair Stevens made the call from the button. Both players revealed their holdings.

Cutoff: 9♦8♦
Blair Stevens: A♦Q♠

The board ran out 7♥J♦2♥2♠A♥ to give Stevens the pot.

Blair Stevens: 79,800

Table 13 has it’s share of sharks in DJ Sharma and his “self proclaimed sister” Jo Teliani. Teliani currently leads the Alberta Poker Index as the top female. Meanwhile, Sharma won his second WSOPC Ring earlier this year. As well, he is hot off of a deep run in this years WSOP Main Event. He found himself as the second largest stack on multiple days eventually finishing in 78th place for $105,000 USD. Both will be looking to continue this streak heading into the Main Event today.

Action was caught after an all in and call occurred between Colten Yamagishi and under the gun. Both players revealed their holdings.

Under the Gun: A♦J♦
Colten Yamagishi: K♠3♠

The board ran out 8♦9♠Q♣K♦4♥ to send the pot to Yamagishi.

Colten Yamagishi: 58,300

Day 1a of the Main Event is nearing 100 entries already, with around 4 hours to go in the entry period. That puts the prizes at nearly $85k, and there’s a good chance there could be $100k or more in the prizes before entries close.

Event #14: $1,100 NLH Main Event Day 1A ($990 + $110)

The Main Event is on deck for the final weekend of play at PPT #3. Friday marks the opening flight to the Main, with action starting at 1 PM. Players get 30k to start, for levels 40 minutes long during Day 1 play (60 minutes on Day 2).

Players have 9 levels to enter or rebuy, with the end of entries at about 8:15 PM when they return from dinner for Level 10. After that, Day 1 plays down to 12.5% of the field, with the remaining players bagging their chips for Day 2 money play on Sunday.

In May, Todd Oakley was the big winner in the Main Event. The game drew 287 entries for prizes of $269,924, and Oakley took down Nicholas Peterson heads up for the trophy.